Pursuit of a Goal should have a reason strong enough to keep you motivated throughout the journey, says Surbendu Thakur (AIR 247; CSE 2015)

When we talk of career opportunities, we aim the top most service and make choices as per aptitude and interests. For Surbendu Thakur it was an aim to make career in Group ‘A’ services and at last, he achieved it in his fourth attempt.

With 247th Rank in Civil Services Examination 2015 Surbendu got Indian Revenue Service (IRS) that was his second preference after IAS and he is relaxed with the outcome.

By: Atul Kapoor On Monday 2nd January 2017

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29 years old Surbendu Thakur had done B.Sc. (Nautical Science) from Mumbai University and was contentedly continuing a job in Merchant Navy till a small incident changed the orientation of his life.

In 2010, his passport got damaged and as his job required frequent travelling sometimes at a very short notice, he wanted to get the passport renewed urgently. But, to get Tatkal Passport, he needed verification from some Government ‘Group A’ rank office.

It was a tricky situation and for a common person, reaching out to such people is not that easy and this assignment made him realize the significance of career in ‘Civil Services’.

Giving account of how it occurred, Surbendu said, “Life was back to normal; but, back of mind there was a spark about the charm ‘Civil services’ have and I was toying with an idea ‘why not divert my career orientation towards it’ and by 2012 I aligned my mind with the heart and decided to take a shot at Civil Services Examination."

"It was sort of expanding my abilities for career exploration that involved progression as well as deepening my knowledge base", he added

My parents backed my every decision; earlier while joining Merchant Navy and later, when I told them about my interest in ‘Civil Services’ rather it made them happy that with this career, I will stay with them in India.

Unaware of requirements, I thought it would be manageable with the job; I started preparing for first attempt just one and half months before Preliminary Examination.

It didn’t work but, gave me a fair idea about the amount of effort I need to put in and knew the requirements. I needed to pick up the pace significantly as the task was huge; but, still my approach was wavered; I wrote Main Examination with Geography as an optional subject that I took as it was one of the most popular optional subjects and that proved to be disaster.

This proved to be the turning point of my life; my batch mate at Nirvana IAS Munish Sharma was also writing Main Examination with me and we had same centre (UPSC Building) and used to discuss our performance after each paper. I couldn’t clear Main Examination but, Munish did. But, when result came, I found Munish at 2nd rank that was highly motivating and gave me encouragement that it is achievable and I have to just realign my preparation-plan.

When Mark-sheet came, I found that we had very close difference in General Studies and Essay marks, but real difference was in the marks of optional subject as my optional subject (Geography) performance was pretty bad I could get 136 marks whereas Munish mastered 252 marks and he had done it with Law as optional.

I thought when Munish without Law background can do it why not try my luck with Law as optional in my third attempt and this verdict played off. I scored 244 marks in Law in CSE 2014, though I missed final cut-off by one mark. However, I got in to reserve list and got DANIPS.

My efforts continued and finally, in this attempt I secured 247th rank that ensures post in Indian Revenue Services (IRS).

Sharing his understanding of this examination Surbendu said, “In the beginning, you need proper guidance and research for each and every decision you make. You have to choose your path correctly as stuff to read is infinite and despite putting in best of efforts you cant predict the outcome.